The number of young people out of work for at least a year has grown eightfold
in the last decade, a grim analysis shows ahead of Wednesday’s official
unemployment figures.

The report by the TUC reveals an “enormous” increase in long-term youth unemployment over the past 12 years, with the number of 18 to 24 year-olds out of work for a year or more rising by 874pc, from 6,260 in 2000 to 60,955 in 2012.

In the last year alone, youth joblessness lasting 12 months or more has gone up by 264pc, the research found.

Young people can often find it harder to get a job compared to older workers because they lack skills and experience, while at the same time traditional entry-level jobs have been in decline as production-based work has moved to services.

Since 2000, the number of young people out of work has risen by 78pc compared to 42pc across all age groups, the TUC said. Long-term unemployment across all age-groups has risen by 50pc over the period.

The average wages of young people have fallen in real terms over the period while they have increased for everyone else, the TUC said, with pay rises typically failing to keep pace with inflation.

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said: “Our young people are already facing a toxic combination of increasing unemployment, high tuition fees and inadequate government support for those people out of work.

"Now we discover they are at a hugely increased risk of being long-term unemployed.”

Fresh unemployment figures, due on Wednesday, are expected to reveal 8.2pc of the UK’s working-age population are jobless, with the number of young people out of work remaining above the 1m mark – one in five of Britain’s youths.